African Music Awards – What Really Happened?

People read my blog and expect Mr Mahogany to be truthful and to the point. So this is one story that has really made me struggle as to whether I should do a review on the AMA’s or not. I know you are thinking “that what is the big deal, just say it as it is” and in a way you are right but before I do I feel it is only fair that I explain why I am feeling this way.

The organiser of Ama is a young man that has put a lot of effort into trying to make the AMA’s a top international awards show and he is someone that I know and it hurts me to have to do this review, but I think it is only fair to him and also a way of ensuring that people hear what is fact from fiction.

So here goes (it’s a long one)... The African Music Awards was due to take place at Wembley Arena on the 15th October and trust me when I heard it was being done at Wembley Arena and was being sponsored by O2, I was thinking my boy has made it and I was very proud of him. Then on the Thursday the day before the show was meant to take place rumours started circulating that the event had been cancelled and I checked the Ticket Master website and yes it was confirmed as being cancelled. So being the person I am I felt that I had to find out what was going on and if I could help out or confirm that it was truly not going to take place. I made some phone calls to the powers to be who were in the know and I was told that a new venue was been sourced and a new venue hopefully would be found by late that evening. Anyway later that evening I got a phone call to say that a new venue had been found and that the event was still going ahead.

I have been doing events for many years and I knew that this would be a major problem as to try and inform everyone that the event was still going ahead would be hard especially at such short notice, also people would not really want to buy another ticket when they had already purchased one and of course most people would be very sceptical and possibly not take it seriously. So the organisers were in a catch 22 situation, should they cancel it and lose an even bigger fortune or try and do it at another venue in an attempt to try and keep the AMA’s keep some credibility.

So moving swiftly on... I won’t bore you with all the bits in between as I know you must be asking why did it not take place at the Arena? I have my ideas and thoughts as to why but truth is, it is only speculation and as such I can’t give my views as I would be adding to the speculation (but trust me I know the truth). So what happened to the sponsorship money and how much did they get? once gain I can’t give specifics but I am sure if the organisers could do it again they would do it all differently including using Max Clifford as the PR company for the event.

The event itself... now this one I can comment on as I was there and am not relying on hearsay or rumours. As much as I would love to gloss it up I can’t. As much as some key figures within the black entertainment industry did their best to try and make it work and attended to give their full support it just did not work. It was poorly organised from front of house to backstage. They had some great presenters lined up including myself, Kanya King (CEO MOBO’s who unfortunately had gone to Wembley Arena as no one had told her it was no longer taking place there), Alexander Amosu, Fatima Jabbe and Jermaine Jackson to name but a few. But can you believe it after spending about 2 hours at the venue we were eventually told that we were not needed as they would not be presenting the winners with any awards. In fact they just read out all of the winners names in one go from a piece of paper.

When we were eventually shown to some seats in the hall, can you believe it some of the hostesses came and asked us to move to some rows behind because they wanted some beauty queens to sit where we were sitting. Trust me in no uncertain terms I politely said I am not moving.

Organisers that is so not cool when we give up our time, not being paid, no food or drink and no VIP seating to then be told to move for some beauty queens , you definitely got that one wrong. (PS before I am bombarded with emails from present and former beauty queens I have nothing against beauty queens but a number of us at this event actually put the events together to make you the queens that you were/are so in terms of the pecking order we sort of should be a bit more important than you).

The show ended very suddenly with no warning after about an hour and a half and a some people even started shouting that they wanted their money back especially as some of them had paid for VIP seating and were not provided with appropriate seating.

Most of the advertised acts such as D’Banj did not show up and same with the hosts Simon Webb and Genevieve Nnaji who gives her reasons as to why on her tweet page “I agreed to host the show, signed a contract and even publicly announced my participation on a tv program in the uk last time I was thr.. mostly because I wanted an opportunity to meet some of u 1on1 at the show. Unfortunately the organizers wr unable to fulfill any of. ..their obligations even to the last minute which is this morning. (Eg; no ticket arrangements). At this point I feel partially used.. ..to publicize the show and I owe it to u guys to explain my absence”.

Even though the venue had a capacity of 2000 people it had just over 700 people if that in attendance.

To be fair though the acts that were there were really good such as JJC, Big Brothaz with ‘We Are Africans, and a Fela Anikulapo Kuti tribute band.

In Conclusion... this is a great event that must continue and despite all of the mishaps and problems it is an event that we must continue to support and now I am being unashamedly tartest here and would say to the AMA’s if you need an event run and managed properly you need to hire me to produce it for you or act as your consultant and I can assure you this would never happen again and you would have a great event.

To all of you that have been kicking a man whilst he is down, shame on you. This could happen to anyone and I can assure you that the AMA’s will be back bigger, stronger and better next year.

TMC Press Launch...

TMC Finalist Press Launch took place on Sunday 17th October at the Jewel in Covent Garden. The finalist were dressed to kill in a variety of purple outfits and entertained the audience by doing a variety of poses on the podium. Press and celebrities attended and everyone had a great time.

The evening was hosted by Jordine Bartlett and was beautifully organised by Sassi PR. If you would like to do a review of the event or require pictures and further information please EMAIL

Limited tickets are still available for the TMC finale taking place on the 27th November at the Porchester Hall. Tickets can be purchased ONLINE or by calling 0845 388 7249.

Uti Wins Big Brother All Stars (African Version)

Uti Nwachukwu out fought all of the other Big Brother contestants to win Big Brother All Stars and pick up a lovely sum of $200,000 (I wish I was his best friend).The final two left in the house were Uti and Zimbabwe's Munya Chidzonga. Uti being a proud Nigerian did the most patriotic thing when he won and that was to sing the Nigerian national anthem.

Yes I know it is only Big Brother but he is still a Nigerian and we are proud of him.

Moan and Groan

Nigerians Why?

As a true green blooded Nigerian it hurts me to have to once again say that we have made the news for the wrong reasons. I have no problems with such programs as Louis Theroux documentary entitled “law and Disorder in Lagos” as it is well known that western reporters tend to only show Africa in a negative light, so I can live with that

BUT it pees me off no end when we put ourselves into a position that we confirm that we are nothing but a corrupt nation. Why is it that once we get into a position of authority we will use and abuse that position to try and make as much money as possible.

A number of countries are currently bidding to host the 2018 World Cup including the England and representatives from the FIFA committee will be voting on the 2nd December as to which country would host the 2018 World Cup. The Sunday Times did an undercover sting and allegedly exposed corruption in the voting process. When I first heard this I immediately prayed to God and said please let their not be a Nigerian involved and low and behold a Mr Amos Adamu who is a Nigerian and the West African executive committee member on the FIFA bid panel and he was allegedly willing to sell his support for £500,000. To make it worst he was caught on video doing this.

In Nigeria we understand that to get things done you grease peoples palms and as far as I am concerned that is the way things are done and that is cool, it is done in the west but it is called corporate hospitality in the UK or contributing to an election fund in the USA and appropriately entitled lobbying.

However if you are a Nigerian sitting on a foreign committee of any kind you are prime material for a sting operation and you are the most stupid human being in the world to think that you can allegedly ask for a bribe and not get caught. This once again has just shown that Nigerians are allegedly corrupt or open to corruption and you just make it harder for the rest of us to be viewed as being honest in anyway shape or form.

Nigerians enough is enough, if you really need to make money and cannot resist temptations and feel you will be open to bribery and corruption then do not take a job abroad, just stay in Nigeria and that way we won’t have a bad reputation abroad.